‘Kevin Riled Them All Up’: Kevin O’Leary’s Remarks About Black-Owned Barbecue Business Cause Mark Cuban to Walk Off Set After Explosive Debate
‘Kevin Riled Them All Up’: Kevin O’Leary’s Remarks About Black-Owned Barbecue Business failing Cause Mark Cuban to Walk Off Set After Explosive Debate
Who knew a unanimous decision could still end up in a huge verbal altercation?
That’s what occurred in an August 2022 episode of “Shark Tank”. On the sixth episode of season 8 two sisters Jorrae and Kelly Beard were hoping to get one of the sharks to invest in their barbecue sauce called Joyce’s LuLu Bang, which they say pairs well with “anything.”
The Philadelphia sisters named their product after their brother who bore the same nickname and lost his life during a car jacking.
The ladies, seeking $150,000 for 10 percent equity in their company, started with an engaging pitch and even said their sauce was already being stocked in 170 Walmart stores. For various reasons, including low sales and high competition, the judges all declined to invest. But somehow the sharks ended up having a major disagreement in the end.
Kevin O’Leary felt strongly that the Beard women would not be successful with their sauce.
“I don’t think this is going to work. This is never going to be a big online business. I’m sorry,” he stated noting that the women would need more than $150,000.
He said, “I’m looking at it saying no chance. It’s a total commodity.”
But the other judges fought against that thought.
Mark Cuban attempted to interject to give another perspective by saying, “Kevin, what you’re missing here” before O’Leary interjected with, “I’m not missing anything. I noticed you didn’t put a dime into it.”
Cuban tried again and said, “The issue is scale. it’s not whether or not it’ll be profitable because they can sell it, they can hire more people to sell it. It’s just how much.”
But Kevin retaliated by making the point that honesty was the issue.
“My whole point about these dialogues that we’re having with these people is all this glowing encouragement is you’re not giving the real risk profile of what they’re spending their time doing,” he said.
Cuban, who was starting to get irritated, turned to face O’Leary and called him an “idiot.”
“Thank goodness I’m here, Mark. Thank goodness I’m here,” O’Leary responded. “Because all this glowing stuff, that means the three of them spend the next two years trying to sell a hot sauce. I’m not doing this kumbaya stuff.” He added, “They should really assess whether or not it’s worth the next two years.”
Lori Greiner, who was another judge advocating for the LuLu Bang sauce, said, “What are we supposed to do? Say, ‘You know what, give up. Don’t keep going because you’re never going to get anywhere.’”
O’Leary hit her with a simple solution and said, “How about telling them the truth!”
Greiner used her earring business, which turned her into an entrepreneur, as an example that people should not quit on dreams. “Do you know how many people said to me, ‘This is never going to go anywhere. You’re not going to get in any stores. Nobody needs this product.’ If I had listened to any of them. I would not be where I am today.”
The judges began to talk over each other before Cuban — who at this point was walking off set — turned to his peers and said, “I would rather work 80 hours a week to make 50K and work for myself than have a 75,000 job working for somebody else.”
Still standing his ground, O’Leary said, “If you guys loved it so much, how come not a dime from any of you? Not one dime. Just this kumbaya you keep going stuff.”
Daymond John, another judge, added, “It’s her business. It’s her business.”
Greiner said, “We all gave them good excuses. We didn’t give them kumbaya.”
O’Leary hit back and said, “Good excuses!? I told them the truth. I didn’t have to give them an excuse. Shame on you.”
Before the clip ended Greiner returned the comment and said, “Shame on you. Where’s your eject button?”
Fans reacted in the comments with one person saying, “Kevin riled them all up and they walked right into it…he loves it.”
Another person said, “Mark walking off was sign that Kevin was right but he didn’t want to agree with him.”
A third person who was just a satisfied viewer said, “I love when the sharks discuss the product after the entrepreneur leaves, it’s some of the best content for me personally.”